MISSION

Sophomore Paden Alexander got a big lead early in the Polson Pirates' Duel last Saturday, and held onto to it en route to a first place time of 17:05.

"I usually always end up in back and passing people," Alexander said. "I just wanted to start fast."

Paden was followed by Polson's three top runners, senior Travis Hayes (2nd, 17:38) junior Alex Nystrom (3rd, 17:39) and sophomore Jimmy Bjorge (4th, 17:41). Arlee senior Jesse Pfau rounded out the top five (18:39).

"I was a little bit nervous about the lead [Paden] got but he obviously knew what he was doing," Mission head coach Patrick Murphy said.

It was his second straight top finish as he also was the quickest at the Arlee Hatchery Challenge on Tuesday with a time of 17:14. Not bad for someone who's in their first year of cross country.

"I wasn't expecting to do this good," Alexander, who practices in the morning with the team and rides his bike as an extra workout in the afternoon, said.

Murphy and Alexander both have their sights for a time in the 16-minute zone, which should bode well for him at the state meet.

Senior Bryan Shock is also showing considerable improvement, placing fourth at the Arlee meet (17:46) with his best time ever and sixth in Polson (18:40) with his second best.

"Bryan has been in the high 18s so that was really cool to see him break into the 17s," Murphy said.

"It just shows he was built for cross county both mentally and physically," Murphy said.

In the Arlee meet, seven of Missions' runners had six personal bests.

On the girls side of things, junior Ashley Courville placed fourth (20:46) in Polson and broke the 21-minute mark for the first time in her career.

"That's a top-20 state performance and Polson is a tougher course than the state course," Murphy said.

Senior LaGlen Mitchell had a 46-second personal best and placed tenth (23:24) in Polson while freshman Robyn Mitchell placed fourth at the Arlee meet (23:32).

"She had a great race in Arlee, all our runners are in proximity to one another. All of them are right there," Murphy said.

POLSON

Once again, the Lady Pirates were led by youth as freshman Claudia Hewston finished first (19:02) at the Pirates' Duel meet.

"It was really challenging, especially that hill," Hewston said.

Right behind her was Polson senior Mesa Starkey in second (19:37) and freshman Tegan Bauer (20:23).

"Hewston nabbed her first victory of the year with another time that puts her right at the front of class A throughout the state," Polson head coach Matt Seeley said. "Starkey joined Claudia under 20 minutes for the first time this year and looks to be very strong headed into the upcoming championship races."

Two Polson runners, senior Dom McGowan and freshman Hallie Hovenkotte both shaved more than a minute of their times.

The big three for the boys team, Hayes, Nystrom and Bjorge, put together a strong showing by all finishing in the top five.

"These three ran together the entire way and pushed each other to a fast time, Travis is looking extremely strong now and might be an outside threat to challenge for the conference championship next Saturday," "Altogether, Polson had an impressive 9 boys under 19 minutes and five season best times."

Freshman Cash Sisler improved the most for the Pirates, cutting 1:29 from his time and finishing on the team.

ARLEE

Pfau finished second at the Arlee meet (17:37) and has showed continued signs of improvements for the Warriors.

"I've been really excited about Jesse's times in the meets," Arlee head coach Katea Dreiling said. "I would really hope to see Jesse in the top 15 of the state."

Senior Nick Morigeau placed sixth in Arlee (18:29) and tenth in Polson (19:16).

"He shows he runs his own race," Dreiling said. "Nick gets out there and sets a pace for himself. It's always a strong pace he sets."

Sophomore Al Plant placed eleventh in Polson (19:20) but it was the sixth place runner for the Warriors that won second place for them. Tied in the point standings with Mission, a 20th place finish (22:51) by freshman Zane Ligas clinched the spot for Arlee.

"That was nice to see that the credit was given there," Dreiling said. "Everybody is doing what they need to do.

RONAN

The Ronan boys cross country team finished third in the Whitefish Invitational last Saturday, keyed by an 11th place performance by junior Cody Johnson (17:23) and a 13th place run by senior Kevin Wroblewski (17:32).

"The week before in Hamilton I thought we ran poorely but this time it was the other way around," Ronan head coach Gale Decker said.

Decker said he would like to see his one and two runners in the sixteen minute zone.

"We're getting there," Decker said. "We're just still a ways away."

Junior Brady Oakland in 18th (17:43) and senior Jordan Franklin was 25th (18:05) in the meet also.

For the girls, junior Ashley Grandchamp continued her great string of races, finishing 13 (21:34).

"She's going to get below 21 minutes this year," Decker said.

Freshman Jade Gray finished 24th (22:25) at the meet.

"I think she's starting to get closer to what her potential is," Decker said.